JPH09104522A - Device which houses obejctives being continuously fed one byone, and arranges said objectives by group - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device suitable for a packing device, that can provide sufficiently long resting time in order to take out objects in groups even in the case of clocking speed being fast. SOLUTION: Two conveyor chains 3, 4 with sections for accommodating objects are arranged laterally in relation to an object transfer path 2 in such a way that the sections are matched to one another in one line in an object transfer direction. An impeding device 7 is arranged between two conveyor chains 3, 4 on the extension of an object feed direction, and formed in such a way as to be able to open/close the sections of the conveyor chain 4 positioned backward in the object feed direction. A control device controls the impending device 7 and a driving device for at least one of the conveyor chains 3, 4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plurality of endless conveyor chains, conveyor belts, etc., which are arranged in a direction at right angles to a transfer path of an object to be supplied and have compartments for accommodating the object. The present invention relates to a device having individual conveying means for accommodating objects to be continuously supplied one by one and arranging the objects in a group for sending out the objects to, for example, a packing device. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Prior Art Devices of this type are, for example, DE 37248.
39C2, DE-PS2336000 and DE-OS
Known from 2701464. This type of device, which is also called a baffle chain, is arranged between the transfer path of the objects supplied to be packed in the packing device and the original packing device, and the objects are continuously supplied one by one. It is used to store items and temporarily store them so that they can be taken out in the form of a group and hand them over to the original packing device where they can be packed in the form of a group. For this purpose, this kind of baffle chain must be formed as follows.

That is, at the receiving side, corresponding compartments for receiving arriving objects are continuously supplied, while at the same time, at the taking out side, a group of objects to be taken out is at least obviously for a sufficient period. You have to stay there. In the known device, this idea is achieved in principle by the following. That is, the conveyor chain located on a horizontal plane is arranged on the carriage, the carriage is displaceable in parallel to the transfer direction of the conveyor chain, and is driven by an operation signal synchronized with the conveyor chain. It

In this way, on the accommodation side of the conveyor chain portion, the chain-like section moves through the accommodation position of the objects to be accommodated continuously, but the objects are taken out in groups. The conveyor chain part on the opposite side is stationary. However, the known device based on the above principle has the following drawbacks. In other words, as the operation signal speed increases (this clock speed is, for example, 1000 clocks per minute when packing plate chocolate), the stationary time for taking out the objects in groups becomes extremely short.

Furthermore, in the known device, the conveyor chain is pulled rearward, such that it is pulled back to its original position at least at the end of the carriage transfer path, which in any case. This is time-consuming and becomes a problem when the speed of the clock, which is an operation signal, is high. Another drawback associated with proper and careful handling of the product is the centrifugal force that occurs when the number of clocks is high and the speed that occurs in the 180 ° curve of known baffle chains. Moreover, the known devices require a large mass for movement, which is also unfavorable.

[0006]

It is therefore an object of the invention, on the one hand, to provide a sufficiently long rest time for the objects to be taken out in groups, even if the speed of the operating signal, ie the clock speed, is high, On the other hand, it is said that the object can be handled properly and carefully.
The purpose is to provide a device of the type mentioned at the outset.

The device according to the invention must be simple and therefore economical to make.

[0008]

The present invention employs the following technical configuration to achieve the above object. That is, it has an endless transfer means that is arranged in a direction perpendicular to the transfer direction of the object, and has a compartment for accommodating the object, and accommodates the objects that are continuously supplied one by one, In an apparatus for arranging objects in groups so that they can be taken out for an object packing device, a second endless transfer means having a compartment for accommodating the objects is provided, and the second transfer means is provided for the object. It is located behind the first transport means with respect to the transport path and is aligned such that at least the compartment in the second transport means is linear with the corresponding compartment of the first transport means in the transport direction of the object. And a blocking device is provided, the blocking device being arranged on the extension of the transfer path of the object and between the conveying means, and the blocking device being
A section of the second conveying means in the extension of this transfer path is formed so that it can be opened and closed, and a controller is provided, which controller drives one of the two conveying means, The other transport means is stopped, the drive of the transport means driven after a predetermined number of transfer operation signals is stopped, the blocking device is driven, and the second transport means is driven, and
This is a device for accommodating continuously supplied objects one by one and periodically arranging the objects in groups by repeating this control process.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In the device according to the invention, two conveyors having the same or opposite transport directions are used, rather than using only two side portions of a horizontal conveyor chain for receiving and picking up objects. Conveying means composed of chains or conveyor belts are used by arranging them side by side, and the object can be stored and taken out on the same side of the conveying means in any case.

The device according to the invention is further designed in such a way that at a given time one of the transport means rotates to accommodate the arriving object, while the other transport means is stationary. , The objects can be taken out of the stationary conveying means as a group, and the conveyor chains can be alternately approached via a switchable blocking device, that is, the objects are accommodated and the objects are grouped. It is made to be able to be taken out in the state of, that is, to be stationary.

The two transport means relate to one another in their compartments,
The objects are arranged to be aligned with respect to the receiving direction of the object, so that the object is received by the section of the transport means and has passed through the stationary section of the front transport means when viewed from the direction in which it is sent out. Later, it is received by the compartment of the transport means arranged behind the front transport means.

In other words, in the present invention, the two transport means are the transport means on the front side in which the object has been previously accommodated, and pass through one section of the transport means which is currently stationary, They are arranged parallel to each other so that they can be received by the moving sections of the other transport means located behind the transport means on the front side. The structure according to the present invention is structurally simple because there is no carriage for supporting the transporting means driven by the clock signal which is the operation signal, and the transporting means from which the object is taken out is stationary while the other transporting means. Since they are adapted to receive a corresponding predetermined number of objects, a large dwell time is possible and the time losses caused by pulling the carriage or conveyor chain backwards in known devices do not occur. Particularly preferred embodiments of the invention are the subject matter of dependent claims 2 to 4.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Two particularly preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the following specific examples, a belt conveyor is used in the transfer path 2 for supplying the object, and a conveyor chain is used as the conveying means 3 and 4, but the present invention is not limited to such specific examples. It should be added that it is not specified and can be realized for many variants.

The apparatus shown in FIG. 1 accommodates the objects 1 which are continuously supplied one by one along the transfer path 2 and arranges them in the form of a needle set for delivering the objects 1 to the packing apparatus. Used for. At least immediately before the device, two endless conveyor chains 3 and 4 are arranged in parallel to each other in a direction perpendicular to the straightly extending transfer path 2 so as to have the same transfer direction. It has a compartment for accommodating objects.

The chain parts of the conveyor chains 3, 4 extend vertically on top of each other, the two upper chain parts being arranged in a horizontal plane which is aligned with the plane of the transfer path 2. The compartment is formed in a drawer shape, and can be formed from a member 9 having an angle material cross section as shown in FIG. 2, and the upright side of this member is arranged on the front side in the transfer direction of the conveyor chain.

A particularly friction-free storage of the arriving object 1 is ensured if the storage compartment takes place in the compartment immediately behind the turning wheel 10 of one of the conveyor chains 3, 4. As shown in FIG. 2, in this embodiment, the accommodation compartment for accommodating arriving objects is largely open. This is because the upright side of the angled member 9 of the subsequent section is the direction changing wheel 10.
From the radial direction and thus extends obliquely outward with respect to the receiving compartment. However, it is also possible to form the compartment from a U-shaped member.

The two conveyor chains 3 and 4 are driven by separate drive motors 5 and 6, which drive the conveyor chains 3 and 4 via an intermediate wheel 11 and a drive belt 12, respectively. Is connected to a shaft on which another deflection wheel 13 is mounted. The two conveyor chains 3, 4 are arranged with respect to each other such that their compartments are in one line with respect to each other and in the direction in which the object 1 in the transfer path 2 is advanced or fed. ing.

Blocking devices 7 and 8 are provided between the two conveyor chains 3 and 4 in particular in the extension of the object 1 in the feeding direction, and these blocking devices are located behind the object 1 in the feeding direction. The conveyor chain 4 is formed so that it can be opened and closed. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the blocking devices 7, 8 can be formed from sliders, for example in the form of a thin plate 7 made of metal or the like, which slides an operating member, for example a pneumatic or electric operating member 8. Operated through. The operating direction is perpendicular to the supply direction of the object 1, and in the illustrated embodiment is the vertical direction.

The drives, in particular the motors 5 and 6 for the conveyor chains 3 and 4 and the drives for the blocking devices 7, 8 are connected to the control device. The control device clocks the drive motors 5, 6 of one of the two conveyor chains 3, 4 when the blocking devices 7, 8 come to a suitable position, and the other conveyor chain is It is shaped to stop.

The device described above works as follows: At some point, for example, the motor 6 of the conveyor chain 3 is clocked by the control device, so that the compartments of the conveyor chain 3 transfer the objects 1 to be accommodated. The object 1 is accommodated in each of the compartments by passing through so as to contact the belt 2. The blocking device, for example the slider 7, then has a position in which the section of the conveyor chain 4 behind it is closed. The chain conveyor 4 is not clocked and is stationary.

The objects 1 arriving one by one are sequentially accommodated in the sections of the conveyor chain 3 and further transferred.
After the timing driving operation such as switching by the predetermined number of clocks, the control device finishes the timing driving of the motor 6, so that the conveyor chain 3 stops and the blocking devices 7 and 8 are viewed in the supply direction of the object 1. The route of the conveyor chain 4 located behind the time is operated so as to be opened, and the motor 5 for this conveyor chain is driven.

As a result, the conveyor chain 3 is stationary, so that, for example, a desired number of objects can be taken out by, for example, a robot and handed over to a packing device, where they can be packed, for example, in a box with a lid, and further continuous. The object 1 supplied as a result is a conveyor chain 4 that is currently rotating.
It is housed in a compartment of. For this purpose, the object 1 first passes through a section of the stationary conveyor chain 3 located in front of it.

After a certain number of clocks, the working method is reversed. That is, the conveyor chain 4 is stationary and the conveyor chain 3 is driven again, in which case the blocking devices 7, 8 are operated in exact time synchronization so that the rear conveyor chain, which is no longer rotating at that time. The route to section 4 is blocked. Since the above-described sequence is periodically repeated, the objects 1 that successively arrive from the two conveyor chains 3 and 4 can be accommodated and taken out in groups.

The timing and synchronization between the individual switching or control steps is possible via sensors which detect the arrival of the respective object 1, eg optical sensors and photointerrupters, and whose output signals The control device clock-drives the drive motors 5, 6 via the control devices 7, 8
It is also possible by switching. The adaptation to the respective conditions on the supply side and the extraction side of the object 1 can be performed on site.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment in which, unlike the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the two conveyor belts 3, 4 have opposite transport directions, 1
Is displaced with respect to the accommodation position. It is important then that at least in the storage position the sections of the two conveyor chains 3, 4 are within one line of each other,
It is to be aligned with the feeding direction of the object 1.

[0026]

As is apparent from the above description, in the present invention, even when the speed of the operation signal, that is, the clock speed is high, a stationary time long enough to take out the objects as a group is provided. In addition, it is possible to provide a simple and economical packaging device if the object can be handled properly and carefully.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a top view of a first embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a top view of a second embodiment according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Object 2 ... Transfer path 3, 4 ... Conveyor chain 7, 8 ... Blocking device 9 ... Angle member 10 ... Direction changing wheel

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An endless conveying means having a compartment for accommodating an object, which is arranged in a direction perpendicular to a transfer direction of the object, and accommodates the objects to be successively supplied one by one. Then, in the device for arranging the objects in groups so that they can be taken out for the object packing device, a second endless transportation means having a compartment for accommodating the objects is provided, and the second transportation means is It is located behind the first transfer means with respect to the transfer path of the object, and at least the section in the second transfer means is linear with the corresponding section of the first transfer means in the transfer direction of the object. Are arranged in such a manner that a blocking device is also provided, the blocking device being arranged on the extension of the transport path of the object and between the transport means, and the blocking device being the transport path. Second in the extension of Is formed so as to be able to open and close a section of the transporting means, and a control device is provided, and the control device drives one of the two transporting means and stops the other transporting means. The driving of the conveying means driven after a number of transfer operation signals is stopped, the blocking device is driven, the second conveying means is driven, and this control step is periodically repeated. To 1
A device that accommodates objects to be supplied one by one and arranges the objects in groups. 2. The transport means are arranged relative to each other such that their first compartment is located behind one of the turning wheels for accommodating an object, the compartments being arranged in a direction of travel of the transport means. The device according to claim 1, wherein a member having an angled cross-section having an upright side on the front side when viewed is provided. 3. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the blocking device is formed as a slider, the width of which corresponds approximately to the width of the compartment of the conveying means. 4. The device according to claim 3, wherein the slider is operated in a direction perpendicular to the object transfer path. 5. The device according to claim 4, wherein the operating direction of the slider is a vertical direction.